Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Berta Cáceres interviewed by Padre Melo the night before she was detainedPhoto by Witness for Peace Honduras Team

It was late that night when we followed Berta Cáceres and Tomás Gomez Membreño out of Radio Progreso to their parked pick-up truck. Berta had just spoken on the program, América Libre (Free America) about the situation that an indigenous Lenca community is facing in the department of Intibucá. The street was quiet and mostly deserted except for a car parked directly behind theirs. Its motor was running and the windows were tinted. As we got into the truck the car drove away. Berta explained that they are under constant and heavy surveillance. The following evening both she and Tomás were detained at a military checkpoint.

Since the indigenous community of Río Blanco began its peaceful resistance to the hydroelectric project Agua Zarca on April 1, the leadership of the Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) has been subject to death threats and intimidation. The week leading up to their detention the two activists had been traveling all over the country, tirelessly working to achieve the community's goal of removing the project from the river. They met with lawyers, sat down with President Lobo and his administration, and gave interviews. Upon their return they were stopped at a military checkpoint and taken to a police station. Tomás was released late that night with no charges and Berta was released the next day. Berta was charged with illegally carrying a firearm, a charge she categorically denies. Berta’s lawyer asserts that the gun was planted to incriminate Berta.

Since the June 2009 coup d’état, criminalization of human rights defenders has drastically escalated. The U.S. government has been criticized for its failure to denounce the 2009 coup and for U.S. tax dollars that continue supporting Honduran police and military forces in the name of the War on Drugs. These forces are now defending the Honduran company DESA and the Chinese company SINOHYDRO, developers of the Agua Zarca project. Other major funders of the project include the World Bank, Central American Bank for Economic Integration and FICOHSA, a Honduran bank.

Padre Ismael Moreno Coto’s (Padre Melo) analysis is that hydroelectric projects like this one are not created to generate “clean” energy as investors claim, but rather to put water at the service of mining companies. “They’re dirty projects,” he stated. He explained that the new mining law approved earlier this year by the Honduran Congress allots a percentage of company revenue to the police and military. Essentially, state security forces are being paid to defend projects like Agua Zarca. These same forces

are receiving training and supplies paid for by U.S. tax dollars. The Honduran military’s 1st Battalion of Engineers is working with the hydroelectric project. Their equipment can be seen inside the project’s fence in the photo below.

Honduran police and military outside Agua Zarca on May 12thPhoto by CICA

The community of Río Blanco demands its right to informed prior consent as stipulated in Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (which has been ratified by the Honduran government). The Convention refers to the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. Since the Lenca community of Rio Blanco has not consented to the project, they are demanding its removal. Berta shared that soldiers wearing Convention 169 badges have been knocking on doors in the community and speaking against COPINH with the intent of creating distrust and defaming the organization. However, some government officials employ any tactic to disqualify the community from the protections of the Convention. One of the government officials with whom Berta and Tomás met in Tegucigalpa went so far as to negate the Lenca identity of the Río Blanco community, declaring it to be not indigenous at all, but rather one of small scale ladino farmers.

The community of Río Blanco demands its right to informed prior consent as stipulated in Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (which has been ratified by the Honduran government). The Convention refers to the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. Since the Lenca community of Rio Blanco has not consented to the project, they are demanding its removal. Berta shared that soldiers wearing Convention 169 badges have been knocking on doors in the community and speaking against COPINH with the intent of creating distrust and defaming the organization. However, some government officials employ any tactic to disqualify the community from the protections of the Convention. One of the government officials with whom Berta and Tomás met in Tegucigalpa went so far as to negate the Lenca identity of the Río Blanco community, declaring it to be not indigenous at all, but rather one of small scale ladino farmers.

It is indisputable that Berta and Tomás’s detention took place in the context of a country that's in the midst of an undeclared war against its own population; a country where defending human rights and speaking against impunity is deemed a crime by the state. Berta's trial has been set for June 13. From COPINH’s press release denouncing the incident, “For defense lawyer, Marcelino Martínez, this act is part of what is now becoming common practice in Honduras, one in which soldiers, who are trained to see citizens as the enemy, are authorized to take actions normally left to the police. As the lawyer asserts, the gun was planted to incriminate Berta… this is part of the criminalization of movement thanks to the militarization in this country, which is increasing every day.”

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